Quotable Country – 11/13/11 Edition

Loggins says when he thinks about it, it’s natural for Shelton to have a turn with “Footloose,” because he thinks it’s always been “a country song.” ●– – “Footloose” has always been a country song?

I admire the hell out of her. She has stuck to her guns, she’s written her own songs, and she actually has accomplished something that I was trying to do when I had a major label deal in Nashville, when I made those records there. She’s actually mixing the singer-songwriter philosophy with the commercial country [mindset]. And I find it just inspiring. My hat’s off completely, because she’s pulling it off, and I couldn’t figure out a way to do it. ●– – Allison Moorer on Miranda Lambert.

McGraw and Hill mingled with guests as Pink Floyd and ABBA tunes played in the background. ●– – How much do you think we should we read into the party music at Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s industry-only barbecue? I’m inclined to say “a lot.”

I’m an obsessive notebook collector, though. Notebooks and pens. It’s my idea of a clean start. Whenever I want to work on anything—whether it’s a to-do list or a journal or a new songs—I’ll go to Office Max. That’s really my nirvana. That first page is a blank slate. There always seems to be some control in that, like, “I can do better with this notebook.” As a result, I have a house full of thousands of notebooks, and each one has four pages of shit in it. ●– – Hayes Carll and I share an obsession.

Taylor Swift just got a kitten. Did you hear? ●– – Alison Bonaguro with some hard-hitting news.

My uncle built a house when I was about 14, and he would just buy these random things before it was even finished. I was like, ‘What are you doing buying all these curtains and stuff, you don’t even know if it’s going to match.’ He’s like, ‘If you love every piece, it will all go together at the end.’ And that sticks with me. And I love every one of these songs, so there was never an option of, ‘Well, this one doesn’t fit,’ because they are all going to fit together because they are all elements of something that I love. ●– – For Miranda Lambert, the thing that ties all her songs together is the fact that she actually has, and shows, a personality. What a kooky idea.

I think that’s one of the cool things about me. Everybody has a niche, and they go with it. That’s usually the most successful people that you see. They find their mark, and they find their corner. They find it, and go there as long as they can go. I’m a little different. I think my niche is universal. The music that I make is country music, but it can also be listened to by people who like other stuff. ●– – Meanwhile, Josh Gracin’s niche is that he doesn’t have a niche. Or a personality.

I think that literally every category of music has — 10 percent of it has something really unique and strong to offer and 90 percent is junk in any form of music. ●– – Robbie Fulks.

Q: What’s the craziest gig you’ve done, or the craziest thing that has happened during a concert?
A: I did a show for Chuck Norris, that was pretty wild. But one time, somewhere in rural Tennessee, people were really excited, there was a lot of noise. One of my fans peed in her pants and when she came to say hello, I had no idea what to say. ●– – Ever been so excited to see Danny Gokey that you peed yourself? It happens to the best of us.

I had some friends in country music saying, “You set country music back 20 years.” I could never think why they said that because what we did was a play on words and a play on situations. They started complaining about the image we had with the bib overalls and the shoes. I said I was raised in bib overalls and I often went barefoot because I only had one pair of shoes. I also said I have two fitted suits. Through the years, they came around and realized what we were doing was a cartoon. […] My defense to anyone is that we never hurt anyone. We didn’t do any negative things. ●– – Roy Clark on the legacy of “Hee Haw.”

I got a couple free copies of American Songwriter, and I’ve been reading those and seeing how people have so much of a process. I really don’t. I just kind of write stuff that comes to my mind. I think it’s just lack of effort that makes me seem honest. People call that gritty, but I guess it’s kind of embarrassing to read someone’s lengthy songwriting process about how they moved to a cabin in Africa. I’m just like, “Damn, I need to do something cool like that.” ●– – Lydia Loveless’ creative process: write stuff that comes to mind. Seems simple enough to me.

The antecedent of “he” is the “studly barfly” of sentence one. Also, Christgau is Yoda. ●– – Alan Scherstuhl at SF Weekly brilliantly annotates a couple of Robert Christgau album reviews, including one of Eric Church’s “Chief.” Pretty funny stuff.

The maker of the red Solo cup, a plastic tumbler that for years has been a mainstay of American parties and picnics and more recently the subject of a hit country music single by Toby Keith, is exploring a sale. ●– – The makers of the red Solo cup are considering selling off the whole company just so they can wipe their hands of that atrocious Toby Keith song. At least, that’s the way I choose to read this story.

In an Oct. 3 filing, Time Warner Cable said CMT’s country-music programming “has been replaced almost entirely by movies and television series, which for the most part bear no relationship to country music.” Viacom had filed an action May 24 in the Texas state court seeking a ruling invalidating TWC’s claim that CMT violated the affiliate agreement’s content clause. ●– – CMT might be in legal trouble for misrepresenting itself as a music channel. Ha.

Few things in life are better than Jerry Jeff Walker on vinyl. ●– – Brody Vercher. #justfollowingorders